Page 39 of Forged By Fate

He sent me Tanvir’s number, and I waited for Sufi to give me the all-clear before I texted him. I knew that the perfect time to reach out would be after Viren ripped him a new one for dragging his heels about finding a new lead singer. Tanvir would be vulnerable and worried about losing his big contract with Silver Records, and I had the perfect opportunity to present him with the perfect solution to his problem.

“Be gentle with him, Sue. Mr C just shot down his classical singer idea. He told him to get another singer just like the previous one,” warned Sufi.

Perfect! Because now Tanvir had a point to prove. He wouldn’t give up a chance to prove to Viren that he could make magic with a classical singer by his side. It was a question of his artistic freedom, but in this industry, you only got artistic freedom if you had the golden touch. And in today’s age, the fastest way for a creator to prove he was gold was to have a video go viral. And that’s where I came in.

I told Tanvir I was a social media manager for an upcoming classical singer, who was very open to experimenting with different styles of music, and that I wanted to explore a collabbetween him and my client. I sent him Tarana’s video as an audition tape with no details about who she was.

I had my reply in minutes.

When can I meet your client?

I set up a meeting that very night at his home in Bandra, and he very kindly invited us for dinner.

The family was in the den when I went downstairs, and Viren’s eyebrows shot up at the sight of me dressed in a dark grey chikankari kurta embroidered all over in pink. I had paired it with long, silver baalis and a thick silver cuff on one wrist.

“Where are you going?” he rumbled suspiciously.

“Someone has a hot date tonight,” said Tahira snidely, and I wanted to smack her across the face with my handbag.

Viren jumped up and dragged me out of the room by the hand. When we were out of hearing range in the hallway, he turned to me furiously.

“I thought we had set some ground rules,” he snarled. “You promised me you weren’t going to meet that asshole for the duration of our marriage.”

“I’m not meeting Dhruv,” I cried. “I’m meeting a prospective client.”

“Dressed like that?”

I looked down at myself in surprise. I was dressed very modestly in a long-sleeved kurta and loose palazzos.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” I asked in surprise.

Viren stared at me broodingly for a few moments before he spoke.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he bit out. “You look beautiful. And I want to lock you in our bedroom and never let you out because I don’t want any other man even looking at you.”

A slow smile spread over my face, and my husband looked grumpier than ever. I looked around to make sure we were alone before I went up on my tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to hislips. The opportunistic bastard grabbed me by the waist and backed me into the wall behind me.

“What time will you be back?” he growled as he bent forward and nipped at the tender skin beneath my ear.

“I…I…”

My mind went blank under the tender onslaught of his lips, and I shuddered in his arms. Maybe I didn’t need to go out after all. We could just go upstairs and…Tarana!

I remembered just in time that I had promised to pick her up in twenty minutes.

“I’ll be back late. Don’t wait up,” I stammered before I pushed him away.

CHAPTER 20

SUNAINA

Ihopped into the car waiting for me, and we set off for Sarang and Tarana’s fabulous sea-facing flat in Worli. I texted her when I pulled up in the parking lot and found her waiting for me.

“Did you have any trouble getting away from home?” I asked curiously. Wondering what her equation with Sarang’s very traditional family was like.

“A little. They were very shocked to learn I had plans tonight. Sarang’s mother expects me to wait for him every night and have dinner only after he has eaten, which is ridiculous because he eats at the studio most nights and gets home only to sleep.”

She shot me a desperate look.

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